REFLECTING on prison facilities (Jailhouse Strop, The Press, July 18), paying your debt to society is one thing, accepting it is another, as we are all vulnerable to lapses in our lives.

However, having to face your responsibilities in the outside world, jail to some would appear to be the easy option nowadays.

Debtors' prisons could once more come to the fore if, as we are all led to believe, the "spend now, pay later society" is on the increase.

Are we to see the Castle Museum prison cells reinstated?

The whinging of present prison inmates should only be addressed if they come to terms with their mistakes. During the 18th and 19th century, unless you were financially viable or had influence, you were subjected to pigswill for food, and straw beds in overcrowded cells, for both male and female prisoners alike.

Sleep and rehabilitation would have been a forlorn hope for most.

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.